


Needles of Starlight in her Hair

by Rhizaria



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark Rey, Dark Reylo, Emperor Kylo Ren, Empress Rey, Eventual Smut, F/M, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Knights of Ren - Freeform, Kylo Ren is a Mess, Kylo ren is very good at recycling family heirlooms, Protective Kylo Ren, Protective Rey, Slow Burn, maybe-if people want it, sith eyes...why not?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-26 04:04:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13227699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhizaria/pseuds/Rhizaria
Summary: Ben drew in a sharp breath and Rey mentally prepares herself for another tidal wave of rage to force itself through their bond. Instead, he grits his teeth and looks down at his outstretched hand as he tears off the glove.“Rey…please…” He begs.~~~Two of the most powerful force users in existence turn against fate and forge a bond in the darkness.





	1. Glass stars and an offer

**Author's Note:**

> I have no clue what I'm doing...
> 
> Hope someone gets a kick out of this...Happy new year folks

He’s smiling. Or it’s as close to a smile as she’s ever seen on him. As he slides out of the Praetorian’s chokehold, the scarlet enameled body slumping behind him, Rey is just able to catch the foreign expression play across his features.

She lets herself revel in the aftermath of their battle for just a moment. Rey hasn’t yet caught her breath and the gash on her shoulder still pulses angrily, but behind all that there was a strange satisfaction that lacing itself into her muscles and sinking into her stomach. They had killed all of them on their own. They won.

The whole fight still plays in her head over an over again. The feeling of strength lingering in her body, the heft of the saber in her hands, and the phantom pressure of Ben at her back. She can see him still trembling slightly between shaky breaths as he meets her eyes from across the room. She wants to go to him and have someone else confirm that they’ve done everything she remembers, and from the excitement buzzing through their bond Ben seems to want the same. But the flash of another Resistance transport bursting into a ball of flames on Snoke’s magnicaster breaks the grip of that thought.

“The resistance ships! You can order them to stop firing…”Turning back to him, she feels her stomach drop as he faces the throne. The excitement that had permeated the bond twists into something else, like a slow and pulsing hunger.

“…Ben?” Her voice wavers slightly as he steps closer to the body of his former master. His emotions are too much for his own body to contain and the awful amalgam filters though their bond and begins to wash over her in waves.

“It’s time to let old things die. Snoke, Skywalker, the Sith, the Jedi…Let it all die.” 

Rey can barely hear him. She’s drowning in everything that underpins those words. His loneliness, his grief, his rage all of is roaring just behind her ears and clouding out her vision. Just as she thinks she will be lost in it all she reaches out. Wading through all the inky hurt and anger, she tries to cut through-a slice of starshine-a reminder-you’re not alone.

Ben’s eyes grow wide and soften. The dark figure he cuts in the smoke-filled chamber trembles and it looks to her as if a gentle breeze would be enough to knock over this man she'd thought of as a loathsome monster only days ago. Even with the blood on his tunic and the ash in his hair he looks so young.

“Rey, I want you to join me. We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy. Join me…” His hand is steady as it reaches out to her, but she doesn’t need to use the bond to sense the fear behind it.

“Ben please don’t do this…please don’t go this way.”

Ben draws a sharp breath and Rey mentally prepares herself for another tidal wave of rage to force its way through their bond. Instead, he grits his teeth and looks down at his outstretched hand as he tears off the glove.

“Rey…please…” He begs.

She hesitates. Considers reaching out for the lightsaber at his side and escaping alone.

Alone.

No.

After the rush and ecstasy of fighting with someone who seems to know her body’s every movement before she does the idea of being by herself makes her feel as if she was once again falling into the chasm on Anch-To. The resistance, the first order, Luke everyone else gets swallowed up by the fear of losing whatever it was she had just felt.

She isn’t even aware she has taken his hand until the warmth of his skin finally registers.

Strange, he had felt so much colder in the hut.

]—]—[—[

He’s amazed by how small her hand looks in his, and even more stunned that it is in his palm at all. If only to convince himself further he clasps his other gloved hand over hers, gripping perhaps a bit too tight.

“We’re going to make things right, Rey. You and I are going to be the greatest force this galaxy has ever known.”

He isn’t really aware of what he’s saying. He feels drunk. The raining embers and stars seem to switch places with one another. But she remains steady. He has absolutely no clue how she does it.

“What happens now….” She asks looking between him and the strewn bodies.

Kylo presses his lips together. The image of Hux walking in to a scene of the two of them lording over the body of the Supreme leader seems pleasant enough at first. But as delicious as it would be to see the panic and confusion set in on the weasel’s pasty face, Kylo knows he doesn’t have the patience or the cunning to manipulate him as Snoke did. If Hux knows Kylo is responsible for the Supreme Leader’s death there will be little he can do to halt the steel trap of the general’s mind from plotting their downfall.

He couldn’t let that happen.

“We’ll just have to……”

But then lightening blots out his whole world. His vision goes white, and the Supremacy lurches so violently he doubles over nearly taking Rey with him to the ground.

Oh gods! Please no he can’t still be alive!

Kylo feels his heart pounding in his chest. As his vision comes back to him, he meets his own wild eyes in the polished marble floor. He can’t look up. Can’t risk seeing Snoke back on that throne again-whole and with another bolt leaving his hands just to tear into his muscles like all the times before.

He flinches when he feels a hand on his shoulder, and stiffens as he waits for the pain. But it never comes. There’s warmth tugging at the back of his mind, and after a few moments it manages to bore through the anxious fog in his head. He looks up and from behind the black strands of hair falling into his eyes he’s able to meet her gaze.

“It’s alright. I think something hit the ship. Look.” Her eyes are searching, and it takes a beat for his panicked head to register that it’s concern on her face. Slowly, he lifts his head toward the great dome.

Half the fleet must have been taken out. Twisted hunks of star destroyer thrusters scatter themselves over almost the entire star field. Shredded insulation and broken glass begin to collide with the dome of the throne room-sounding almost like rain as they ping off the transparisteel.

“I think I know what we need to do,” Rey says, as she lets an image creep through the bond.

“I don’t know if I can do it alone. Can you help me.” She asked extending a hand down to him. He took it without hesitation.

His legs feel boneless the whole walk back to the elevator. Who is this woman he’s offered the galaxy? He’d sensed the power in her what felt like ages ago, but he hadn’t adequately prepared himself for this dark vein running through her.

It thrills him to no end.

The doors close behind them, and Ben shuts his eyes. The two of them reach out past the bodies of their foes, past the Transparisteel canopy out into the field of wreckage. They only need the one looming shard of a Star destroyers hull, and with their combined strength it feels less like towing the hulking mass of a ruined war-machine and more akin to pulling a toy down into water.

He doesn’t need to look as it crashes through the throne room. Kylo refused to try and sense the mass of his former master as the pieces of his corpse vault into space. Instead, he lets go of a breath he’d been unaware he’s holding and turns to Rey.

Her eyes had never left the window. Fists balled impossibly tight at her sides.

 

 

 


	2. Long Live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elevators are ruined  
> Titles are chosen

It had taken more out of her than she had anticipated. Rey shouldn’t really have been that surprised that hauling hundreds of tons of durasteel would wind her a bit. Sliding down the elevator wall, she found herself grinding the heels of her palms against her eyes.

 

“That was a bit melodramatic. Don’t you think?” Amusement tinges the edges of Ben’s voice.

 

Rey suppresses a small laugh. He has no right to sound this casual after all this, but peaking at him from behind splayed fingers she’s still relieved to see a smile curling the edges of his mouth.

 

“Are you really going to stand there and accuse me of being dramatic?”

 

Laughter rolls through him easily. It sounds out of use, and she’s unsure if she would have been able to place it as genuine if she couldn’t feel the warmth threading through the bond. There’s a flicker of accomplishment seizing her chest, but it grows cold as she remembers what’s waiting for them.

 

“The resistance….”

 

Ben gnaws at the inside of his cheek for a moment before speaking, “The impact would have stopped the shelling.”

 

“Yes, but after that, Ben? What’s going to happen to them…..” She finds herself spitting the words out through clenched teeth. 

 

“We both know this needs to end, Rey. It’s time for the Resistance to die….it’s the only way for things to move forward”

 

“…but that doesn’t mean the rebels themselves have to die too does it.” Her words don’t seem to find him as he absently punches several buttons on an array in the wall. “Ben?”

 

 

“You shouldn’t call me that.” The elevator capsule staggers into its descent.

 

“What? Your name?” 

 

“It’s not my name. Not here.” He trying so hard to appear calm. Trying to make it look like she’s the only one wracked with exasperation. 

 

“Well then, _Kylo_ ,”He flinches at the venom in that word, and Rey stares up at him challenge blazing in her eyes. “I thought you wanted this to be a partnership. If that’s true at all, I need to know you’re listening to me.”

 

“I do. I-I am”He stops as the words start to get away from him. He bites at the leather covered knuckle of his thumb. “Rey, you have to trust that I know what I’m doing. We can’t just go up there and tell the Order to let them go. You gave us an opportunity up there and I don’t want to see it go to waste by causing suspicion. **”**

 

Her eyes drill into him, unconvinced. He sighs and clenches a fist against his forehead, “I can see to it they’re taken as prisoners, but for our sake the Resistance must end.” 

 

Rey purses her lips as she considers him. “…Alright.”

 

She has just enough time to catch the satisfaction running down the bond before she hears the roar of his lightsaber sparking to life. Rey shoots up from her spot on the floor and takes a defensive stance on instinct. _Are we fighting someone? Are you fighting me! What…_

 

She stares dumbfounded as he tears into the paneling. Sparks splash out and singe the edges of her clothes as he swings wildly at the sheet metal leaving a shredded and red hot wreck in his wake. _Oh gods, maybe this wasn’t the best idea._

 

Rey’s expression is flickering between confusion and fury by the time the crackling energy of the blade slinks back into the hilt. Kylo turns back to her and pushes the hair from his forehead. He takes a moment and presses a finger to his lip as he considers her face before pointing at her.

 

“Perfect. Try and hold that look.” He says just as the elevators shudders to a stop. She wants to strangle him and it only seems to stoke the almost gleeful snark snapping through his end of the mental tether. As the doors open, he takes in a shaky breath.

 

“GET ME HUX!” He roars. Kylo doesn’t seem to wait for the already petrified officers to take any action as he storms down the corridor. It’s difficult to try and keep pace with his ridiculously large gait while still managing to look enraged. She prays to any god that will listen that her shorter steps and furrowed brow makes her look intimidating rather than like some petulant child trailing this hulking shadow.

 

]-]-]-[-[-[

 

He stares straight ahead nearly the whole way to the bridge. He breaks just as they pass the Comm center, and looks back at her. _Stars, why is she puffing her cheeks out like that._

 

Despite himself he feels a beam of warmth curl in his stomach, and he nearly loses his grip on the rage he’s trying to stoke there instead. If this is going to work he knows he needs to look and act every bit like that rabid beast Hux thinks he is-at least initially.

 

“GENERALLLL!”Kylo had pinned his location with the force before he even steps foot on the officer’s deck. It’d be difficult to miss his particular signature-metallic and nearly acrid. He sees the redhead dashing back and forth between flashing holoscreens and panicked officers. Kylo lets the darkness bubble up as he seizes the General. The rubber soles of his boots squeak pathetically as he’s dragged towards them, and by the time Hux is towed to him Kylo has made sure to stretch to his full height-blocking Rey and her pout from the general’s view in the process.

 

“The Supreme Leader is Dead,” the words came out clipped and furious. “Tell me how you could have possibly allowed the destruction of half our fleet and the death of our ruler.”

 

Hux’s face grows pale as his eyes cycle through disbelief and panic before finally rage grips his features. Kylo waits until he’s fuming, red faced, and just about to shriek back at him before he pinches off his vocal chords-a squeak all that’s able escape from his thin lips.

 

“I’ll hear the details of your failures at another time.” Through the bond he feels a shiver of dark laughter. 

 

“For now have the troops assemble we’ll see this finished once and for all on Crait.” Kylo nods to Rey behind him. Hux’s knees almost buckle as Kylo releases his hold.

 

“Who do you think you are? You think I would allow a raving fool and a dirty scavenger to take command of my arm…..” Kylo begins to flex his power to grip at his throat, but he feels another energy strike out from behind him. His heart quicknes as he watches Hux claw desperately at a hand that is not there, and Rey steps out to tower over the general as he sinks to his knees.

 

“There is nothing for you to allow, General. I will overlook this disrespect just this once, but I advise you try and do better when addressing you superiors in the future.” There’s blind furypulsing behind her words, and he tries to push his own pride through to meet it.

 

“Yes, supreme leader…” He manages to choke out through Rey’s grip. Kylo can’t fight the half smile tugging at his lips even as he motions for Rey to release the fool. 

 

“No. That title died with Snoke.” He mutters. 

 

Kylo turns to the rest of the officers who’ve been watching this exchange. Taking a breath he wrestles with his memory and tries to draw out all the times he’d watched his mother address an assembly. Tried to recall how she’d been able to use a voice like warm iron to enfold uncertain powers into a cause. 

 

“The Supreme leader is dead. And we will ensure that the last spark of the resistance dies with him.” Rey turns to him accusation in her eyes, and he pauses to mull over his next words carefully. It seems he has to convince two audiences.

 

“Until now, the First Order has only looked towards conquest, towards crushing those who cling to their nostalgia of a chaotic galaxy. That ends now. That ends here. We must move beyond this if we are ever to see the rise of a Grand Order in this Galaxy.” He tries to keep his words steady. Tries to avoid emulating the half-crazed, spitting cadence Hux demonstrates in his speeches. His voice comes out less like iron and more like a kyber crystal tensed to the point of fracture.

 

“The title of Supreme leader was an emblem of wartime. The actions we take on the surface of that planet are to put this rebellion to its appointed end, to bring the galaxy back to its rightful state.And I think the old imperial titles will do just fine for this Grand Order.” He extends his hand to her for the second time that day, and this time the ripples of hesitation barely register over the bond.

 

“Long live the Emperor. Long live the Empress.” Hux’s eyes never leave the floor even as he brings himself to his feet. 

 

“Long live the Emperor! Long live the Empress!” The exalt resounds off the walls of the bridge. He can feel Rey drink up the praise despite herself, and he watches as her eyes drift between the chanting officers. 

 

Smiling he adds his own voice to their last refrain, just loud enough for her to hear.

 

“Long live the Empress.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot more fun writing this one...
> 
> I hope I did a better job getting some actual character into these characters but if anyone has any notes or criticism I'd faint on the spot from joy
> 
> (90% of the reason I wrote this was to see the reylo version of this one image)  
> https://78.media.tumblr.com/c79a816a6867a1dfa93e1b087567adff/tumblr_inline_mmahr06aO11qz4rgp.jpg


	3. The Wedge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey's second ride on the command shuttle  
> first time on the salt flats

 

Hux stays a dozen paces behind them throughout the walk to the hangar bay. Every few minutes or so adjusting his collar, but never looking up from his datapad. Kylo is delighted. 

 

“I think you might have domesticated him,” Kylo muses. Rey doesn’t respond. The bond is cold.

 

“What are you going to do.” She finally says.

 

“I think I’ve made that clear.” His eyes focus straight ahead, lips pressed into a hard line. If he can see Rey’s pleading face in the corner of his vision he pays it no mind.

 

“Kylo please…”

 

She’s cut off by the hiss of the doors as they finally cross into the shuttle bay. Even after being rammed by the _Raddus_ the hanger was operating like clockwork; the polished white teeth of stormtrooper helmets filing into the bellies of AT-ATs and transport shuttles as swiftly as ever. A large number of them, however, remain frozen in place. A host of stormtroopers had formed themselves into ivory columns. Their fists raise in salute as Rey and Kylo walk through the channel between them towards the twin slate spires of the command shuttle.

 

Jets of steam drift serenely over the boarding ramp and almost make Rey’s entrance into this grim cruiser seem dreamlike. As her eyes adjust to the red tinted darkness of the shuttle’s interior, Kylo nods to a cluster of seats near the back of the ship. Trailing a finger across the leather, Rey wonders for a moment if she’s sat here before. If maybe this is the same seat she’d been strapped into on Takodana. It’s strange how things work out. Suddenly the engines kick to life and the cockpit is filled with the rattling thrum of the thrusters. 

 

“I’m proposing a trade.” Kylo tries to keep his voice low.“Not a single Resistance member will be harmed. I swear it….”

 

“….but?” She offers, cocking an eyebrow.

 

Kylo swallows, “I want to see more from you.”

 

“Have I not done enough already?” There’s incredulity painted on her face. Memories of decimating half a dozen guards and hauling space debris are slammed at him through the bond. 

 

“No, No, you’ve done more than I could’ve ever expected, Rey.” 

 

“Now, what is that supposed to mean?” She all but growls.

 

“…oh gods.” Kylo catches the navigator looking up from his read outs to catch a glance of this embarrassing display of communication skills. Without looking away from Rey he flexes a finger, slamming the officer back into his jumpseat with enough force to rattle his copilot. 

 

_Words aren’t working. Of course they’re not._ Instead, he tries to let the fascination trickle through, the shiver of awe as he witnessed her abilities grow, his trust in her power. 

 

Gradually, her face softens. Understanding chiseling away the indignation that had plastered itself on her face. She’s not quite ready to let it all go though. “So what ? You want me to perform tricks for you in exchange for my friends’ lives…is that what you’re saying.”

 

“You _quite literally know_ that’s not what I mean.” He hisses. The frustration is starting to twist his frame, his head rests on clenched fists, knees nearly digging into his chest.

 

“No?”

 

“No!”

 

“Look! I just want this to all be over. I want to move on from having to think about _them._ And I know that the only thing the Resistance has at this point is hope. It’s blind and irrational, but its stubborn.” He straightens up letting out a sigh.

 

“They sent you to Anch-To thinking you were going to be that hope, Rey. They thought you were going to fight the battles they never could as this great weapon.”

 

“That’s not true.” Her gaze sharpens.

 

“Yes it is.” His voice is soft but finality laces itself into the words.

 

“Think about it. What would they do if they found out about this bond?” He says brushing against her mind. “Even if you never joined me what would have happened the second they found out I was linked to you, could hear you, could sense where you are?” 

 

Her mind races through scenarios of being left on a distant planet, being locked in the dark, being sent back to Jakku alone. She hated this. Absolutely despised the truth he was digging out from the depths of her mind.

 

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking they’d be kind just because you proved useful to them on Starkiller.” He taps the scar raking through his cheek, and Rey’s thoughts flash through memories of the eyes of Resistance fighters lighting up when she told them about her fight with Kylo Ren. The laughter and cheers when she recounted nearly killing the man before her. 

 

Kylo lets them pass without a word. “You don’t need to kill them, Rey, I would never ask that of you. Just show them that that hope doesn’t belong to them anymore.” 

 

His hand clenches on his knee. She can feel _s_ omething else coursing through the bond. Something far less concerned with strategy that he's shoved to the back of his thoughts until just recently. The room shivers as the shuttle forces its way past Crait’s atmospheres and Rey is now suddenly very aware of the time she has left before she has to face her friends again. The seconds drip like poison into her heart.

 

]-]-]-[-[-[

As the ship hurtles down from deep space, Crait’s surface slowly reveals itself for the bleeding landscape it is. Jagged pillars of garnet mineral threaten the underside of the cruiser as it careens through the artificial canyons leftover from centuries of mining. Rey’s eyes drift to the atmospheric readout. Her heart sinks just a little when next to precipitation she sees the word salt blinking in stark white letters.

 

Slowly the gleaming shelf starts to rise out of the barren white of the salt flats, the rust tinged monolith of the mineshaft door seemingly scarred into the graphite colored surface of the cliffside. The command shuttle hovers just off range from the artillery batteries and the whistle and boom of AT-AT’s dropping from orbit into position starts to fill the air.

 

“The battering ram cannon will be operational in ten minutes, Sir.” An officer chirps from the flight deck.

 

“No.” She orders with enough force to startle the pilot.

 

“I’ll take care of this.” Kylo smiles at the steel in her voice. “Take me closer.”

 

The officer’s eyes dart between her and Kylo, expecting some sort of correction or refute.

 

“Are you deaf, Lieutenant? Advance and have the exit ramp ready.” Kylo barks. Nodding to him in thanks, Rey turns to make her way to the back of the ship, and Kylo hesitates before following her.

 

A line of red lights winks at her as she hurries towards the ramp and a blast of frigid air blows the hair from her face nearly stealing the air from her lungs. She barely has time to shiver before a warm weight sinks onto her shoulders. Drawing the black fabric closer to herself on instinct, she doesn’t recognize the heavy quilting as Kylo’s cape until the ramp scrapes against Crait’s crystalline surface. Before she can turn to look at him she feels his hair brush against her neck as he leans down.

 

“Show them what their weapon has become…an empress,” he whispers just a hair's breath from her ear, and it feels like electricity is prickling every inch of her skin. She doesn’t need to turn to see his smile-there's no way she could ignore the glow of his pride and trust practically searing itself into her mind. Burning away any thought of the resistance members behind that door. 

 

Her head is swimming. She tries in vain to remember what she was going to do, what she wanted to happen, but looking down at the bloody rings around her boots everything feels so far away. Staring down the towering wall of the outpost, her mind is fogged over. A mix of fear and arrogance and something richer that she can’t name all swirl together and she can’t distinguish what belongs to her from what is Kylo’s. She closes her eyes. Takes a breath and holds it and imagines all of it forming into a great wedge before her. Her eyes snap open and she pushes that wedge straight through the mottled durasteel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long I had trouble with it because I've been getting ahead of myself a lot with this story...
> 
> next chapter is hopefully going to be a lot more exciting for a lot of reasons


	4. Kyber Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scars and Escapes

Leia grips her cane till the polished polycarbon bit into her palm. She could feel him out on battlefield. His signature drifting above the crystalline salt flats felt just as jagged and stormy as she remembered. But as another thunder clap resounds through the cavern she’s reminded that it wasn’t his presence that was roaring in time with the blasts against the door. There’s a chill she can’t attribute to the icy planet when she thinks about how soft that energy was just days ago-the bright heat of it now threaded with cold darkness. 

 

“General..” A timid voice calls out from the communications bank.

 

“Yes, Lieutenant Millham?” Leia croaks.

 

“Our message has been received on all known allied frequencies. We’ve received no response.” The soot stained blonde makes a valiant attempt to fight off the tears welling in her eyes. Some long disused part of Leia calls her to comfort her, to tell her its okay to cry

 

“They’ve heard us, but no one’s coming.” She taps her cane on the slate ground punctuatingthe death sentence. “Well…I think I know somebody we can call out to. Try my personal code on the old subtransceiver frequency, and cross your fingers” 

 

Finn comes rushing in salt crusting the edges of his jacket. “General, I couldn’t find whatever’s causing this. The first order had a battering cannon deployed but its not even charged.”

 

Leia tries not to feel relief that Finn’s face is only filled with frustration. Looking at the bulging fissure in the durasteel there’s not much time left for the fire in his eyes.

 

“Hmmmmmm…well regardless of what’s causing it we need to find a way out of this death trap before that door crumples” She muses turning to her captain. “Poe, anything?”

 

“We followed our little crystal critters to their escape hatch but it was blocked off…a cave in sealed in the whole thing with what looks like a few tons of boulders.” Poe spits. 

 

“Well, can we can blast through it? I mean this used to be a rebel base there has to be some sort of firepower in here we can use?” Finn says, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“It’s rusted to bits” Rose interjects as she half heartedly tries to rub a grease stain from her trousers. Finn lowers his head and for a moment Leia fools herself into thinking that spitfire spirit of his has been snuffed out. 

 

“The rebel ammunition might be, but we don’t have just rebel tech in here now,” He beams as he and Rose exchange excited looks. Poe’s eyebrows knit together until he follows their gaze to the first order cruiser the pair had crash landed. 

 

The ace rushes at Finn seizing the lapels of the former trooper’s jacket in rapture. “Buddy, I think you might have saved us.”

 

Another crash echoes through the mine and the rebels turn and realize they can now see patches of the crystal blue Crait sky through the door.

 

“Alright hustle, people, strip that ship of every ion mine and thermo detonator you can find. By the look of that thing we gotta about three minutes before the First Order starts dragging their filthy boots over our doorstep-LET’S MOVE PEOPLE!”

 

“Rose can you link whatever they find so it goes off at once?” Poe barks.

 

“In my sleep, flyboy,” She tosses back, already grabbing wire cutters and a beat up data pad from the comm bank.

 

“Great, you’re in charge of that.” He says flashing a pair of thumbs up.

 

“Gener-“ Poe swivels back to face Leia who hadn’t moved an inch. Sitting silently in the middle of the cavern, her eyes are transfixed on the growing breach. 

 

“Even if you weren’t demoted I still wouldn’t let you give me orders, captain” Leia says but there’s a weary smile tugging at her lips.

 

“M-my apologies, general bu-.” 

 

“Poe…you’ll do a fantastic job keeping the spark alive.” Her hand extends out to him, and he thinks he can feel his soul shatter. He shakes his head weakly and Leia reaches up to cup his cheek.

 

“He’s behind that door, Poe. I’m still his mother. l can give you time.” In that moment, she sounds more regal than Poe can ever remember. He can’t meet her gaze. He can’t bring herself to see the resolve glittering in her eyes even now. Instead, he gives a trembling nod and rips himself away from her. Before following the remnants of the resistance into the bowels of the mine, Poe clasps Finn’s shoulder till his knuckles go white, and he hands off the blaster from his own belt.

 

“You protect her you got it? Take up position somewhere they can’t see you and if that monster tries to lay a hand on her…you put him out of his misery.” Poe hisses through clenched teeth. He’s aged so much in the just the last few hours that Finn half expects to see grey taking root in the dark curls of his hair. 

 

“Don’t worry. I’ll watch over her.” Finn says trying to keep his voice steady for his sake. 

 

He let’s his eyes linger on the pilot until his form is swallowed up by the darkness of the mine shafts, and then scrambles to get behind the stripped carcass of a ski speeder. The flaking metal digs into his side as he watches a final blast of energy part the meters thick wall into twin waves of shredded durasteel. The impact shakes dust and salt from the ribs of the mine, quickly filling the cavern with a glittering white fog. There’s a fluttering shadow moving through the crystalline mist, and Finn feels a shiver run up his back as he’s forced to remember the forest. And the man in swirling black robes who filleted his back with that hellfire sword. Looking down the sights of his blaster, the salt blurred outline of a body begins to clear and Finn sees a pale and trembling hand extending from the cloud. 

 

“Rey…” The name sticks in his throat as the dust settles around the figure bundled in heavy black. There’s no hesitation; the devil he was prepared to shoot down moments ago and the slight girl before him might as well have been light years away from each other as he barrels over the wing of the skimmer towards her. 

 

“REY! You’re here. You’re ok…” He rushes toward the gaping maw ripped into the door, blaster forgotten.

 

“Finn?” Rey’s eyes struggle to adjust to the darkness, and she reaches out with the force to try to locate the voice that should feel more familiar than it does. Instead, her reach recoils against a white hot presence.

 

“You’ve gotten stronger since last I saw you,” Leia’s voice is low but it cuts through the room like a knife. When Rey meets the joyless hazel eyes shining through the darkness, it’s as if a torrent of ice water runs through her. 

 

“Leia…I’m sorry,” Rey staggers over the words.

 

“You don’t need to apologize, Rey,” Leia says pulling herself to her feet. “there was always conflict in you. But..I’m still sorry to see you gave in to it just like my son.”

 

“W-what you’re…no, no..” Finn says his voice breaks looking between the two women.

 

“Finn, you have to listen to me, ok. No one’s going to get hurt just…” she pleads pulling Kylo’s cloak around her tighter. The metal casing of Luke’s lightsaber presses harder into her hip/

 

“Rey you joined him? You’re with the first order,” accusation bleeds into his tone beginning to drown out the heartbreak.

 

“Finn please…I’m not…,”Suddenly, the emptiness of the room crashes down on her, “wait..where is everybody…?”

 

There’s no response from Leia, and Finn’s jaw clenches as he moves to block her from the tunnels. Gathering the force in her palm she pushes him aside as she pinpoints the spark of desperate souls in the maze.

 

“Rey?” The pilot’s voice teeters between confusion and joy as she tears into the room nearly toppling over a soldier in the process.

 

“Poe listen, please listen!” Her eyes dart wildly trying to meet any of the rebels stitching together the sleek casings of first order explosives. 

 

“Don’t Poe! She’s with the First Order,” Finn shouts, rounding the corner breathlessly.

 

“No….” The commander’s eyes go wide, and the intermittent flash of arc welders light up the faces of disbelieving rebels

 

“Poe, please I cut a deal. Everyone here will survive today I promise just listen…” Rey’s voice is stretching to the point of panic, and she wishes she could just shake these laser brained fools and make them see the reality of their situation. _Why won’t they realize she’s helping them? Why would they rather martyr themselves?_

 

“Wait she…she was the one that destroyed the shield door?…” Rose looks incredulously at Finn, and the ex-trooper nods grimly.

 

“-i-it doesn’t matter…just for gods’ sake someone listen to me…it’s over. Do you hear, me it’s over!” Her hand sinks beneath Kylo’s cape, blindly fumbling for her lightsaber.

 

“No, Rey, I think you need to listen…”Poe all but growls. He lets out a sharp whistle cocking a finger in her direction and a half dozen blasters train on her at once. Rey’s heart creeps into her throat. 

 

“I don’t know what your First Order boytoy has been filling your head with since I last saw you,” There’s a predatory curl to his lips as he sizes up the girl swimming in the Jedi killer’s cloak 

 

“..but the resistance isn’t over. It’s just getting started.” Poe stalks up to her. Despite the handful of survivors in the room, it feels like a million eyes are drilling into her, boring their way into her spirit. _They hate me…they are willing to kill me even when I’ve done everything in my power to save them._

 

“You will all die if you don’t hear what I’m trying to tell you.” Her voice is ice. All the fear has bled out of it and been swallowed up by something dark and hungry that she hadn’t realized was there. Been denying was there. Now that it’s free, her power swirls beyond the bonds of her own skin and its inky tendrils bristle invisibly against the resistance members. 

 

Maybe it was nerves. Maybe some falling rubble startled the rebel. Maybe it was just the instinct of a weaker being faced with something incomprehensibly powerful. Later the rebel who took the shot will say he saw her eyes glow the pale yellow of a Sith under the light of the vapor lamps. Regardless, the burst of blaster fire lights up the chamber as it rockets towards Rey. It takes less than a second for it to reach her, and she reaches out to try and halt the blue bolt. She’s able to deflect it away from her heart. And there’s a starburst of pain as it rips through the left side of her face.

 

 

 

]+{+]+}+{+[+}+[

 

Kylo can feel her panic clawing at the back of his throat moments after he watches her body disappear into the black maw of the outpost. He waits for her to use it. Keeps expecting that fear to unfold into the same righteous fury that she wielded against Snoke and the praetorians, but instead it just continues to build and build. The shuttle bay feels impossibly claustrophobic as he paces up and down the length of the boarding lights; then all at once the fear evaporates. The shock of power resonating from her stops him mid footfall but then the pain blots it out in an instant.

 

“DROP THE RAMP!” Kylo barks back to the cockpit not wasting a second to hear the pilot’s protest. “I want troopers in that mine, now!”

 

It feels like ice water is filling his lungs; there’s so much fear and pain welling up with no point of release. The ramp doesn’t even extend halfway before he slips out of the ship and drops to the ground. Bolting through the curling breach in the door, Kylo let’s the mix of instinct and the bond pull him through the twisting corridors all the while gripping the hilt of his saber. He’s half crazed by the pulsing backdrop of agony that has flooded into him by the time he hears the explosion. Hurried voices and the drone of thrusters filter down the passageway, and his last thread of control dissolves. 

 

By the time he barges in, most of the rebels have been directed onboard the falcon. The few that are left are either hoisting supplies or have blasters aimed at the writhing body on the ground. There’s two figures crouching over her. He only spots the bloody gash raking through Rey’s face as he goes to plunge his saber through one of their backs. Hefting the corpse with the beam of crackling red plasma, he hurls the body onto its comrade knocking him to the ground. He crouches over Rey trying to gather her underneath his giant frame, saber held up in challenge to those that are left standing. His eyes swivel between a quaking woman and a man, who has not seen his true face in decades. There’s more hatred boiling in Poe’s eyes than he remembers seeing onboard the _Finalizer_

 

“You son of a…”Kylo lunges at the pilot, and Poe fumbles for a blaster that isn’t there. 

 

“Ben!” The sound of his name on his mother’s lips is harsher than he remembers, almost likestone against glass. He turns, saber never drifting from its target of Poe’s throat. Standing in the doorway, she looks larger than her slight frame could allow. As if the gravity of her presence was bending light itself.

 

“Let them go, Ben.” She says, her eyes dart briefly to Rey, but she doesn’t allow the girl’s pain to distract her. “I’m surrendering to the First Order in exchange for their lives.”

 

“General, don’t!” Poe shouts back at her. Leia shoots him the same steely look Kylo remembers receiving as a boy, and the resistance pilot lowers his head in silence. 

 

“They ruined their chance to make it off this planet alive,” Kylo screams back at her clutching Rey to his chest. Suddenly everyone becomes very aware of the syncopated beat of stormtrooper boots echoing down the corridor, steadily growing louder and louder. Leia takes a breath and nods to Poe before shooting her hand out from beneath her robe, calling her father’s lightsaber to her hand. Kylo darts to meet her, his own grip in the force stopping the hilt in the air. The saber trembles between the conflicting call of two Skywalker bloods, and the force saturating the air forces mother and son apart with winds of energy. Poe scrambles to the falcon pulling Rose behind him. Before the hatch closes they feel the heat and flash of kyber fire as the saber explodes.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big chapter to apologize for being a day late
> 
> also in case anyone wants to know what my muse for the very end of this chapter was   
> https://lucidlucy.tumblr.com/post/159852844185/cornered-kylos-going-to-get-rey-out-of-this-and


	5. Hollow Reds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stitches and Bleeding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank everyone for being patient with me. I'm so sorry this took as long as it did, but the last few months have been rough. I really can't stress how much I appreciate your kind comments and they all played a huge part in me picking this back up.
> 
> I hope to get more up soon, but in the mean time I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Also Im sorry if my depiction of a certain aspect of the dark side is shaky

The hilt screams and pops like a shard of ice under pressure. Kylo feels the energy in the chamber crystalize into ribbons of electricity in the half second before the saber shatters. Before his vision is blotted out entirely, he catches sight of his mothers eyes hard and steely even while brimming with heartbreak. The fire ghosting over his skin is freezing as the shockwave throws them both to the salt stone floor. 

]+{+]+}+{+[+}+[

 

Blood drips before her eyes as Rey watches the silver spark of the _Falcon_ skitter into hyperspace. She hugs her knees tighter to her chest, and tries to numb the pain brewing there like she had the bleeding gash on her face She turns to the dark figure splayed on the ground beside her and gently brushes the black hair from his face. Even unconsciousness isn’t able erase the tension from his brow. She wants to gather him to herself, to return that feeling of protection and comfort he’d given her while her world was blinded with the shock of blaster fire. Instead, she calls his saber to her hand, and rises to meet the approaching column of stormtroopers. Igniting the blade, she calls that cold power out of the void within herself and lets it swirl around her. _She can’t look weak before them. Not for a second._ When the troopers are within view she reaches out with the force to snatch a set of binders from one of their belts.

 

“Prepare a prisoner transport. The general is in custody,” Her voice is low but she let’s power curl behind her words. 

“Empress, do you require medical attention while we clear this area.” There’s a tinge of fear in the modulated voice.

“No,” She barks. “Scan the remainder of the tunnel system Kylo Ren and I have this sector contained.”

There’s only a moment of hesitation in the trooper’s movements but it’s a moment too much. Rey throws the shroud of power further out making the crystalline tunnel groan under the pressure. “That’s an order.”

 

“Forgive me, Empress.” The trooper sputters. He quickly staggers back through the mass of gleaming white men his hand raised to motion for an about face. Rey watches them retreat into the darkness until she feels a weak pull at the back of her mind. She can feel Kylo’s call trying to creep through the bond even though it’s still muffled by his unconsciousness. Extinguishing the saber she makes her way back into the chamber and crouches beside him. His eyes dart behind his lids and she can feel the bond flicking, searching. Gently, she settles a hand on his shoulder. Kylo bolts up with a gasp. Rey waits for him to fight back the panic, his eyes scan the room wildly, his muscles tensed waiting for a threat, hand going for a saber no longer at his side.

“R-rey?” His eyes focus and gradually his breathing evens out.

“Yeah it’s me…” She squeezes his shoulder, and she notices his eyes have settled on the slash raking through her face. His hand hovers just below the mark.

“Who did this?” This time there’s more concern than rage behind the words.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter they all got away…” Her voice hardens as she brushes his hand away. “well most of them.”

Kylo follows Rey’s gaze to the body of his mother, lying crumpled against the opposite wall. But then Rey’s eyes drop to a glinting piece of metal in front of Leia. And her hand finally drops from Kylo’s shoulder as she slowly makes her way over to the remnants of what she’d come to think of as her lightsaber. She turns the two twisted fistfuls of Mandalorian iron over in her palm. They’re still faintly charged and they pop and spark weakly against her skin. It looks like it was blown apart from the inside, and her heart drops when she sees the icy blue kyber crystal looks like its been nearly cleaved in two. 

“We can’t fix it can we….”

“No,” he says plainly as he gets to his feet. Clutching the set of binders at his side.

The pain needling in Rey’s chest that she refuses to name collapses into the rest of her body, dispersing itself through her limbs like a mist as the hilt falls from her fingers. She was a fool to think she could have it both ways. Having Kylo and the resistance both at her side was a dream, one that took blaster bolts and shattered sabers to wake her from.

 

Kylo knows this is a realization she needs to have, all he can do is allow a steady pressure to exert itself through the bond. A reminder that he is here. He hasn’t. and will not leave her. Unlike her son, Leia comes to softly. Her eyes flutter against the light of the vapor lamps briefly but she settles on the dark figure of her only son after a sharp breath. The binders in his hand glint coldly back at her.

“Those are for me I suppose.” She says, voice hoarse.

Kylo doesn’t answer just tosses them at the ground beside her.

“Follow us to the transport,” Kylo’s words are frigid.

He turns away before he can see the way she chews the inside of her cheek as she secures the binders on her wrist, or how she blinks away the wetness from her eyes. 

“Let’s go, Rey. We can get you treated back on board.” Rey nods absently, and as she starts to stagger back through the tunnel Kylo calls the halves of the twisted saber to him

 

]+{+]+}+{+[+}+[

She didn’t say anything on the transport back to the _Supremacy_. Not a word as Leia is lead to the prisoners block. Nothing as she was taken to Kylo’s quarters. Only an occasional flat “no” as his med droid asks about the presence of pain while it lays down thick iron grey stitches. Kylo pretends to busy himself with a data pad, trying to stamp out the need to hover with halfhearted directives to Hux. 

“What happens now?” Rey’s voice is just loud enough to be heard over the whirr and snip of the med droid. 

“We’ve already set course for the core worlds. With the general in custody the resistance is effectively dead,” Kylo’s eyes flit up from the screen briefly as the med droid finishes. A dark vein of batch stitches cut through her golden skin from just above the outside of her left brow to her jawline. He can tell already it will be a cleaner scar than what she gave him but the blaster fire will undoubtedly leave a thicker trail. 

“Will those planets have to be destroyed too?” There’s no trace of the fervent empathy, the need to protect and care has left her, been iced over. 

“What? No…no,” Kylo says. The hollowness in her voice is mirrored in the bond; it unsettles him to no end. “We’ll begin the process of setting up a real government there. Something permanent.”

“Rey, I’m going to give you what I promised.” He says setting down the data pad.

“The galaxy…” Rey sounds nearly bored. She doesn’t look at him, her fingers pick at the hem of her tunic.

“W-well…” Kylo swallows.

“Is that what you think I wanted from you.” She makes an attempt to scoff but even that seems to die halfway. For Kylo, this has gone on long enough.

“No.” He says as he produces one half of the saber from beneath his robes. “That wouldn’t be nearly enough for you would it?”

“Why’d you bring it back here? I thought you said it was ruined?” A small flicker of irritation dances behind her impassive mask. 

“Well it is. At least for what it was intended to do.” He says as he pries the wounded crystal from its blackened shell and crosses over to the med bench.

“Open your hand.” She doesn’t budge. 

“Rey, you don’t need to keep yourself from feeling things, now. They didn’t listen. They hurt you. They left you. There’s no reason you need to bury those facts for their sake….it’ll destroy you.” His voice is soft, but each word seems to echo through her like a stone against an empty vessel. Gradually, he coaxes her hand open and places the battered flame blue crystal in the nest of her palm.

 

“Pour it all out.” He closes her fingers over the crystal, but keeps his hands wrapped over her fist as he begins to feel the dark threads of force encircle them. Her eyes are squeezed shut, trying to clip back the tears threatening to spill out.

 

“Rey, look at me.” She refuses, the furrows in her brow only deepen. He sees her wince from tensing the stitches. “I don’t need you to be strong right now.”

 

Her eyes shoot open, and Kylo inhales sharply at the sight of her golden eyes flickering beneath the tears.

“Tell me about everyone that’s wronged you.” He leans into her, bringing his eyes level with hers. There’s a pause. The lights seem to dim just a fraction as the threads of force thicken and darken around their hands.

“My parents…” It’s barely a whisper.

“I saw. They left you in that junk pit. Never even looked back to see that oily beast drag you into virtual slavery.” Kylo feels the force crackling beneath his palms as her grip tightens.

“They did.”Rey grits her teeth as she let’s the tears fall freely.

“Who else?”

“Unkar Plutt.”

“That beast. You’d turn that entire planet to ash if it meant blotting him out.” He only offers her the truths plucked from her own mind.

“I would.” There’s a faint trace of light pulsing around their hands. A dull red glow.

“And…”

“Snoke” Her eyes drill into him, and he grips into her skin tighter still.

“You’re jealous that I was the one who split him. You think he got off easy. That you should’ve skewered him a dozen more times for what he did to you.” A smirk pulls at his lips, but Rey only stares him down her eyes burning.

“Don’t you think the same?” Her voice is almost accusatory, he can sense a familiar acrid emotion finally being allowed to flow out of her. Her hatred is crackling across their hands in red hot arcs.

“The resistance?” He muses and the energy changes. The wild snaps of force are dulled to a sharp and steady throbbing. 

“Finn didn’t even try to listen. They turned on me in a second, Kylo.” She hisses. He can hear the sickening grating as Rey grinds her teeth and she furrows her brow so hard Kylo is sure a stitch will pop loose.

“I know.” 

“They shot me and left me for dead.” Her voice is hoarse but it seems to reverberate through the room more than it should. The light surrounding their hands is to bright to look at, so he only looks at her.

“I know.”

“They looked at me like I was a monster.” She shouts, and the pain and hatred weave themselves together now into a burning cascade up and down their arms.

“I know.” 

“Is that what I am?” The glow is nearly blinding. Like the crystal is on the cusp of blowing apart a second time.

“Not to me.” He says, and the brilliance and tension of the force releases. 

Slowly, Kylo let’s his hand drop. Rey uncurls her fingers, and stares down at the blood red crystal in her palm.


	6. Pearls and Hypnocane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Courses are plotted  
> Returns occur

The blood shine gem winking back at her feels heavier than it should. Its pounding brilliance reduces to a dull and aching glow, pulsing in time with the blood rushing in her ears. There’s still rage and pain stewing in her mind. But she feels different. Like she’s being pinned in the center of these emotions. Cocooned by the currents whipping around her rather than drowning in them. It’s almost protective. And for the first time in a good while she feels solid. Safe. And very, very tired. 

Her head buzzes with drowsiness, dipping a bit even as she tries to steady herself against Kylo’s shoulder. This feels different from the swell of exhaustion she felt in the elevator. Rey’s limbs feel as if they’re being pumped with warm lead, and she just begins to suspect the med droid’s treatment included a sedative when she feels a hand at her back. 

“You need to try and rest now.” Kylo’s voice breaks through her haze.

She shakes her head weakly, “No, no, there’s too much to do. All the things you said…the core worlds and, and…the falcon.”

“Let me worry about that for now. Come on,” his voice strains only slightly from what little effort it takes to lift her sagging body from the med bench. “You’ve exerted yourself too much…body’s not used to it.”

“What about you?” She asks, trying to parse his face for any trace of the same exhaustion that’s weighing down on her. 

“Used to it.” The corners of his mouth twist into the ghost of a grimace as his fingers trace three interlocking circles blinking white on a wall display. They separate and a panel drops out from a wall to reveal a bed that must be at least twice as large as Rey is tall. She can’t help the sigh as he lowers her down onto it, and she immediately feels any lingering desire to pour over course readouts dissolve into the plush down. But then his arms jerk away and she hears him head for the door.

“Wait, where’re you going?” She calls out head snapping to see him reaching for the cloak she’d shed near the threshold.

“The Bridge.”

“Nooo,” she groans trying her best to get up. Rey manages to prop herself up on a too weak arm only for a gentle press of the force to usher her back down to the mattress. 

“My quarters are yours for the night. I’m going to attend to some matters on the bridge but really you must try and get some sleep…” His voice sounds too stiff, and it makes her skin crawl. Trying to grasp for the comforting presence from before, Rey’s hypnocane-addled mind scratches at the bond for him to join her. 

Kylo swallows, seemingly flustered by the call, “the…the bleeding ate up more of your energy than you realize and you’re going to be drained for a while.”

There’s no answer this time. He waves off the lights and tries to quietly make his exit. 

“Ben…” Her heavy tongue can only manage the one word but it has the desired effect. He has one foot out into the hall already, but he turns to see her peering back at him.

“I’ll be back…if you’d like?” He offers. Even through heavy lids, she sees him clench and unclench a fist at his side. She makes him feel the satisfaction bristling in her chest. He rushes out, and a small chuckle ushers her into unconsciousness. 

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+

Kylo’s in a daze as he slips away from the officer’s block. It’s been almost a decade since he’s last bled a kyber, but he recognizes the aftereffects. Even though she did most of the work, electricity still trails up his spine into his thoughts. It’s a maddening feeling. One that seems to at least fade a bit the closer he gets to the bridge…or the further he gets from Rey. Judging by the silence from her end of the bond she’s asleep now, but there’s still a torrent of energy flowing out that is just so insistent. Kylo has to pause outside the polished doors of the bridge. His fingers brush at the icy prickle behind his ears, and for a moment it seems pointless to be here. He could just take reports from his chambers. It’s not like it would be unorthodox for an Emperor to speak through holovids anyway. And it really just makes more sense to go back and rest. 

He turns to make his way back down the corridor when a set of clipped footsteps begin to echo through the hall. A pasty face lit by a datapad rhythmically bobs towards him, and Kylo’s hand immediately drops from his neck to punch the officer’s code into the door. There’s still a dozen exhausted COs on deck. Most of them are still able to get to their feet in salute before he finishes striding across the glossy catwalk to the commander’s chair.

“As you were.” He waves them off as he queues up a report to the holodeck. Sprawling out in the chair, he does his best to look engrossed in an engine update as the doors announce another entrance with a metallic hiss.

“Ahh, General how nice of you to finally join us.” He smirks as he enlarges a flashing red diagram of the Supremacy’s thruster over Hux’s face. The crimson light seems to deepen the sour lines carving themselves into Hux’s face as he glowers back at him.

“How soon till we can make the jump to light speed?” Kylo asks no officer in particular, and immediately one of the bleary eyed admirals bolts up from a frantically whirring terminal.

“My lord, Absolution, Finalizer and Harbinger are completely functional and ready at your command.” The graying CO replies, arms crossed behind his back. “However, a significant portion of our fleet was severely damaged, and the Supremacy would need to find a suitable docking orbit for repairs before it could attempt to enter hyperspace.” 

“Very well, how long will this take and what is the nearest orbit…” He says, but Hux cuts off any chance for a reply. Stretching to his full height, the slight man trudges through the flickering forms of the holodeck until he’s fuming over Kylo. 

“The core worlds are reeling. Losing Hosnian Prime and the resistance has left them defenseless, and you would have us consider wasting time making repairs?” Hux hisses.“We can’t let them muster a response by delaying ourselves with unnecessary exploits.”

“General, you’d prefer we advance without our flag ship?” Kylo sighs, raising an eyebrow.

“A flagship? We could take that system with just the wreckage.” He says, jabbing a finger towards the debris field out the window. “We have Organa. Their last hope has been snuffed out and the ashes packaged into a cell. Why would we do anything other than drop the rubble of their puny resistance on their doorstep and collect what we’ve rightfully won?”

“Because that wouldn’t be enough to ultimately convince them, General,” Kylo mumbles as a shimmering map of the galaxy flutters into place. He stares at the circlet of planets glinting at its center, five pearls.

“I beg your pardon?” Hux scoffs.

“Did you know it’s possible to find virtually anything in the galaxy on Coruscant…they say people there have never wanted for anything.” He drawls as he lets his head rest on his wrist. “That must be a very hard thing for someone like you…someone from the Outer rim to imagine.”

“Ren, you are wearing my patience th…” Scratching at the scruff on his chin idly, Kylo makes a mental note to shave when he gets back to his quarters even as Hux progresses through a few more shades of red. 

“That fact extends to people too. It would never be enough to just throw their old leader at their feet when they can just rummage through a database for another member of the Rebel Alliance to prop up as their great symbol of hope.” Kylo says finally rising out of his chair “I can not allow something that idiotic to happen again just because you lack patience.”

He tilts his head down a little more than necessary to emphasize the extra height he has over the general. Kylo lowers his voice, letting each word sharpen on his tongue . “Let’s make one thing crystal clear. You are a wartime dog, you do not have the faintest idea how to handle these people?”

“Yes,” he says matching Hux’s venomous glare. “I think I’d feel quite safe betting this ship on the fact you are literally incapable of lasting three minutes on Coruscant during peacetimes. Though to be fair you might last five if maybe you spent the last two ordering a Starkiller to take out the wretched system and you along with it!”

Satisfied with the silent rage gripping his opponent, Kylo turns back to the Vice-Admiral who has been standing stock still for this entire exchange. “Nearest orbit.”

“Naboo, my lord.” He answers flicking a map projection from his datapad out onto the holodeck. The localized star map shows the red daggers of the Grand Order fleet drifting away from Crait as they follow a trail of starbursts to the Mid Rim planet. There is no way Kylo could’ve envisioned a more perfect course of events.

“Very well,” Kylo nods. “Have our undamaged ships escort the Supremacy to its orbit. We’ll make our landing in eighteen hours.”

“I’ll inform the fleet immediately, my lord,” the admirable answers back cooly.

Kylo looks over to Hux. ”Take as many battalions as you’d like with you to the surface, General. Just make sure to have Major Madoc bring a communications team so that you, the Empress, and I can make an address to the galaxy when we arrive. We’ll invite the core worlds to offer terms of surrender and then we can finally get on with this.” 

He can almost see the greasy gears in Hux’s head snag on nearly every word he says, but his body physically flinches when it catches the word surrender. Content with his performance, Kylo moves to return to his quarters.

“Returning to your Outrim Rat?” Hux whispers just loud enough for only Kylo to hear as he brushes by. It’s such a transparent ploy, but Kylo can’t help the instinct that’s calling him to rip his throat out. Still, he won’t give him what he wants. He refuses to let Hux goad him into being a raging beast again.

“Good night General, I’ll be sure to inform your empress of your kind regards. I’m sure she’ll appreciate them.” It manages to come out evenly enough, despite the crescents his nails are digging into his palms. But as the obsidian doors close behind him Kylo lets a small curl of force settle over Hux’s neck. Close enough to where Rey grasped him and light enough so that Hux won’t be able to discern whether a threat or a memory is to blame.

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+

She snores. Of course, she does. Rey had carved out as much space from the bed as her stature will allow while he was away. And he returns to the sight of her limbs cocked in every direction and her face mashed into a pillow she’s cradling under one arm. The only visible evidence of the darkness pooling inside her is the soft, red glow of the Kyber peaking out from between her fingers.

Kylo shakes his head as he scrubs at the back of his neck. She has no business looking like this after the things he saw her do with his saber today. He chuckles, faintly enough where it’s hardly more than an exhale. But it’s enough to make her stir. Whining softly as she twists away from the pillow, Kylo’s stomach drops. Rey’s eyes are still pinched close as she grimaces. Her entire body seems to quiver as her breath quickens. Waves of fear roll off of her mind and into him. He doesn’t think as he lets himself follow the current back into the inky pit of her nightmare.

At first, all he can see are undulating shadows, but slowly sickly blue moonlight begins to wash over the shapes until he recognizes them for the walls they are. Kylo’s eyes are forced to follow as Rey focuses on the clouded shine of the wall in front of her. Pity seizes his heart as he waits for her to ask the cave to reveal her parents once again. It’s regrettable that she clings to them, but at least he knows that chain is being broken in the waking world. He can’t hear what she says. Rey’s words come out muffled and warbled; it’s almost like her voice is being conducted through glass. In response, the frost begins to curl away from the mirror, and Kylo is suddenly staring back at himself.

This Kylo’s eyes are red-rimmed, pleading and pained. His hand darts out to pound on the barrier between them, and his mouth opens to scream. All that comes out are bubbles, and then gravity lurches. Suddenly, they’re falling into the reflection. It’s cold, dark, she can’t breathe, but she’s not trying to swim to the surface. Instead, she swims deeper down frantically paddling after the dream Kylo that’s sinking further and further away. There’s a torrent of bubbles rushing past his eyes and he realizes Rey’s screaming. Ice water fills his mouth and he can feel her chest heave. Then the dark tresses of hair flow away from the dream Kylo’s face, and the last thing he sees before he drowns is himself. Smiling back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good to be back, folks!   
> This chapter was supposed to be a lot longer than it is so the next chapter is already halfway done...expect it sometime around thanksgiving *finger guns*
> 
> Thanks to all the kind comments and everyone who's putting up with this hellish update schedule (haha what schedule amirite)
> 
> uhhhhhh also I'm gonna go back through some of the previous chapters and tidy them up a bit in case my inconsistent tense usage and comma catastrophes are making anyone else want to beat their head against a wall
> 
> peace homies!


End file.
